Eli T. Iceman's "Power Grid Operations"

Before this May, my only interest in the power grid came from the board game of the same name (which, by the way, is excellent). However, all of that changed when the group I'm collaborating with on an interdisciplinary research project settled on the topic of the U.S power grid.

Cool board game

In order to familiarize ourselves with the grid, we settled on "Power Grid Operations" by Eli T. Iceman as a common reading. Eli T. Iceman, by the way, is just a pen name and apparently a mnemonic used by physicists and electrical engineers. I was expecting the book to be a bit of a slog, but was pleasantly surprised by Iceman's work. The book was readable, avoided getting caught up in technical jargon, thorough, and peppered with interesting anecdotes and the occasional joke that kept my interest. 

Cool Book

What surprised me most though is how interesting the power grid is! I loved learning about the different parts of the grid, so that when I drive down the highway I no longer say, "look another wire electricity thing", but instead, "oh, a transmission line, and there's a distribution line, and over there it connects to a substation!" Iceman is a longtime grid operator, one of the people who balances electricity generation and distribution to make sure all the lights stay on and equipment doesn't start failing. He offers an interesting perspective on the job. The task of power grid operators appealed to me for much the same reason meteorology sounded interesting in Nate Silver's "The Signal and the Noise"; it combines mathematical modeling and computer simulations with fast paced, somewhat subjective decision making. 

If you want to learn about something that you never thought was interesting (but is) and affects every facet of your life, I highly recommend "Power Grid Operations". It will change the way you think of turning on the lights. 

Also, on the subject of my research project, I hope to keep posting updates about that throughout the summer, so stay tuned!